plunkdebanjo - Posted - 11/28/2009:  03:23:33

Perhaps if you preface your playing in front of a crowd with "This is ANOTHER little tune I'm working on". Then, if you nail it, no problem. If you don't, no problem. Everyone understands. At least you had the intestinal fortitude to get up on stage..

rudykizuty - Posted - 11/28/2009:  06:42:23

My mother-in-law is spending the long weekend with us. Yesterday, while my wife was at work, I took my banjo up to the bedroom to practice so as to not disturb my dear old M-I-L's enjoyment of her television programs (no to mention that she is worse than a guy with the remote control, so who needs to be around that?)

While practicing, I was teaching myself a new song in chord melody........and you know how it goes. You try some stuff that doesn't work. You try some other stuff that does. After a while, I have something put together that I am satisfied with and that I can bring with me to Tuesday's band rehearsal to continue working with there.

I come downstairs after my practice session to hear "I was listening to you play upstairs, and you know.....you hit some funky notes there".

Why is it that women you can't be without always come with baggage........you know, like MOTHERS and stuff?

Edited by - rudykizuty on 11/28/2009 06:46:38

jbanjoist - Posted - 11/28/2009:  10:42:24

There are a few tunes recorded by Earl that had mistakes.
Very minor but still there. Can't recall the specific tunes but I remember the realization that "he messed up".

When you make a mistake you could always call it improvising.

Janna - Posted - 03/03/2010:  14:58:58

Yes, I always make mistakes... I don't know how to not make mistakes while I'm playing a full song and when someone hear me playing)

TrailerParkPickin - Posted - 03/05/2010:  11:31:20

I remember the first time I ever got through the entire Ballad of Jed Clampett without making any errors at full speed. I had been playing that song nearly everyday for many years and while it still didn't sound as good as Earl, there weren't any noticeable makes. I was in so much shock that I just stared off into the distance with a crazy smile on my face for the longest time.

Ronnie - Posted - 03/05/2010:  11:49:28

Sometimes my mistakes sound better that what I intended to play.

pinch - Posted - 03/05/2010:  16:16:06

I can play golf as well as I can play the banjo -- I rarely impress anyone besides myself. In both activities, my moments of perfection top-off my motivation for months.

mrbook - Posted - 03/06/2010:  17:20:39

A couple weeks ago, I was on my way to a gig with a guy who was playing music in public almost before I was born, and one of the best guitar players I've ever played with. While driving along, he said, "Someday I would like to play one whole song without a mistake." I can't say I notice many, and I usually watch him to pick up a few of those mistakes.

hitchcock - Posted - 03/07/2010:  08:32:03

I once thought I made a mistake but I was wrong.

hitchcock - Posted - 03/07/2010:  08:40:34

Seriously, the mistakes are there in every song. I just wonder where they will show up. There is a lick in Fireball Mail that is simple and I just kept messing it up. Then I listened to it one day and it sounded better and the timing fit better so now I use it. Was it a mistake or a pick of genius? I tend to lean towards the latter since it was me.

steve davis - Posted - 03/07/2010:  08:47:23

I played some fiddle tunes with Lucien Mathieu on stage last winter.
Later I said "Sorry about fudging that last one a bit",(he sprung a new one
on me). He laughed and said,"You and me's de only ones dat knew."

mrbook - Posted - 03/07/2010:  18:19:35

One time when I played a fiddle tune for the first time ever at a gig, a guy came up during the break and said, "You put a few extra notes in that tune." I replied, "I didn't really know it, so I put in all the notes I knew, hoping some would be right."We both laughed.

Banjocoltrane - Posted - 03/07/2010:  19:12:38

If I'm playing somewhere besides a "stage", then mistakes happen all the time.
On stage I tend to play it much safer.
If I'm just out jamming. I am always trying new things, often creating things on the spot...it doesn't always go well. After years of playing I have got better at covering up my errors.

Yet, If I'm practicing and making mistakes I stop and try to figure out where I'm going wrong. Practicing mistakes over and mistakes is going to lead to more mistakes. Just make sure you are practicing correctly, the mistakes will decrease the more you do it correctly.

Poppy - Posted - 03/07/2010:  20:31:49

Do I still make mistakes? Only every time I pick it up! How else can I learn?

Cornflake - Posted - 03/07/2010:  21:01:19

Every time I open up the forum and see the questioning title of this thread I just have to chuckle--like "Duh, is water wet?"

Dick Parker - Posted - 03/07/2010:  22:44:28

In my "day job," working for a daily newspaper for 37.5 years (but who was counting?), I occasionally made mistakes or failed to catch those of others. That meant that roughly half a million readers either were misinformed or noticed an embarrassing booboo, and the mistake went into a permanent archive somewhere, along with, often, a correction published afterward. On the other hand, when I make a mistake playing the banjo it goes by in a fraction of a second and there's no lasting record of it (unless someone's taping us, but what the heck). I move right along to the next measure of the music. So I've come to be at peace with making mistakes as a musician! The listeners usually appreciate the total package, the tune.

Milli2 - Posted - 06/15/2010:  20:02:09

O boy, I was getting desperate I practice every day, 2 - 3 hours in total. One day everything goes as smooth as silk, and the next day, it seems as if my fingers are 3" thick by 1/2" long. On days like that nothing goes the way it should go. I have only been seriously practicing for 6, 7 months and I do the MH way with highly appreciated additions of Rob Bourassa. I am so releaved <sp?> to read that it's normal to make mistakes no matter how experienced you are.

I am planning to try to record one or two simple songs and to get one recording without any mistakes. That's a nice challenge!!!

robin wells - Posted - 06/16/2010:  01:08:19

No such thing as mistakes, I just tell people it's jazz.

ibapicker - Posted - 06/16/2010:  09:47:30

A whole song without mistakes? I'd be happy with one break without mistakes.

Banjophobic - Posted - 06/16/2010:  14:14:57

Nahhh, I nvewr make msitkaes. Why would you think that?

thetexan - Posted - 06/17/2010:  12:35:35

I made a big one just yesterday.

I thought I made a mistake by playing the wrong chord! It turns out I was wrong because it was actually the right chord!!!



I just love that joke. It's still funny...I dont care who you are!


No...seriously.....I stopped making mistaikes a long tim ago.

Edited by - thetexan on 06/17/2010 12:37:03

Dwayne Elix - Posted - 06/20/2010:  20:01:38

If a mistake worries you, I would slow down the piece you are performing to a point you don't make a mistake. If you still make a mistake, slow it down even more. Sometimes mistakes are caused because we just get so use to doing something the same way. It maybe a timing or picking thing. You just need to work out why you make the mistake before you can fix it. I had a banjo tune I just kept making so many mistakes I was going to give up on it. Oneday while sitting in front of the tv playing, I played it mistake free without realising. Today I know the tune so well I can have a chat to someone while playing it.